* Shot…

Fundraising during session. Except as provided in this Section, any executive branch constitutional officer … may not hold a political fundraising function on any day the legislature is in session or the day immediately prior to such day.

Greg Hinz Chaser…

State Democrats have scheduled a fundraiser featuring Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson on Thursday that will raise money to help pay host expenses for next year’s Democratic National Convention here. […]

Corporate guests who attend the event are being asked to commit at least $1 million to the cause, party sources report.

He’s just being featured, and it’s a 501c6. Totally legal. But still. He’s helping raise money to put on a political event during a session day. I can’t help but assume there’s gonna be some heavy-hitters who often have Springfield interests at that funder.

* The revenue drop wasn’t the major crisis that some portrayed it, and Fitch saw through some of the hype. Crain’s…

Despite a huge drop in revenue last month, Illinois’ overall budget outlook remains good and within earlier forecasts, according to Fitch Ratings. […]

However, it added, “Despite April tax revenue declines, all three states are on track to comfortably exceed their adopted budget revenue forecasts, which anticipated tax revenue declines for the full fiscal year. Illinois had budgeted a 7.4% drop in tax revenue but has seen a smaller 1.0% (year over year) decline in year-to-date tax revenue through April.”

Illinois’ April dip also may have been impacted by a new provision in the law intended to give pass-through entities such as partnerships protection from a change in federal law that capped the personal deduction for state and local taxes, generally known as SALT, at $10,000 a year, the agency said.

* Something that’s being lost in this debate is that the firefighters thought they had a deal…

Chicago CFO, at least until Mon, warns House pension comm. that proposed firefighters pension changes will put in jeopardy city's recent upgrades with 60M annual cost/$3 billion over payment schedule… ultimately the only source city has is a property tax hike or pub safety cuts

— yvette.shields@arizent.com (@Yvette_BB) May 11, 2023

Chicago firefighters fund says mayor, gov, lawmakers promised that these pension changes would be made when they lobbied for casino and for 2019 downstate and suburban public safety pension asset consolidation and it's four years later…..

— yvette.shields@arizent.com (@Yvette_BB) May 11, 2023

The casino’s revenues are earmarked for the city’s first responder pension funds.

* Senate President Don Harmon…

Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) issued the following statement after the State Senate took bipartisan action to reappoint Judge Michael McCuskey as Legislative Inspector General:

“Over the past year, Judge McCuskey has shown himself to be a fair, honorable man driven by high ethical standards. He is doing an admirable job of enacting our shared goal of fostering honesty in Springfield.

“I believe he will continue to serve the people of Illinois well.”

* Pitch…

Hi Rich,

We’re in Springfield sharing these new flyers with information that has never been scrutinized about the program: Public Dollars, No Public Oversight and Vouchers Fund Discrimination.

If you’d like more details or links for anything on the flyers, please let me know.

Best,

Jennifer Jones
(she/her)
Illinois Families for Public Schools

From the Illinois Opportunity Project…

Every child should have the opportunity for a world-class education. It is the only way they will be able to compete and contribute to today’s economy and society. Unfortunately, Illinois is failing on this front.

A child’s potential shouldn’t be determined by a zip code or their family’s income.

The Invest in Kids Tax Credit Scholarship Program has granted over 40,000 scholarships to well deserving families providing them the opportunity to send their children to a school that best fits their unique needs.

These life-changing scholarships are at risk because the program is set to expire this year.

* ISP…

The Illinois State Police (ISP) is releasing the final name of the seven people fatally injured in multiple crashes that occurred on May 1, 2023 at approximately 10:55 a.m. on both northbound and southbound Interstate 55 between mile markers 72 and 78, near Farmersville in Montgomery County. Otto Medina-Salazar, 58-year-old from Carthage, MO was fatally injured in the crash. A total of 72 vehicles are known to be involved in the crashes and 37 people were transported to area hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to critical. There were seven fatalities in the crashes, including the following names previously released.

Shirley Harper, 88-year-old from Franklin, WI
Joseph Bates, 73-year-old from Crystal Lake, IL
Donna Bates, 71-year-old from Crystal Lake, IL
Earl LeGrand, 64-year-old from Florissant, MO
Michael Zinchuk, 55-year-old from Champaign, IL
Amy Zinchuk, 54-year-old from Champaign, IL

ISP recognizes the impact of this tragic event and offers its condolences to families and friends mourning their loss. ISP thanks all its first responder partners and sister agencies for their tremendous work and assistance during this incident.

* Sun-Times reports that the CTU’s chief negotiator will be the next deputy mayor for education…

Jennifer Johnson, chief of staff to the CTU that employed Brandon Johnson as a paid organizer, will serve as deputy mayor for education. She is a former history teacher at Lincoln Park High School. […]

Pointing to Brandon Johnson’s roots as a middle-school teacher, Davis Gates said: “What once was is no longer. We do not have a mayor who has declared war on us. The previous two mayors were very clear about being adversaries. The mayor-elect and his team … will lead the transformation and sustainability of our public school system.”

Maybe. But her portfolio won’t be confined to just education. Johnson’s full title will be Deputy Mayor of Education, Youth, and Human Services. The city’s human services network has been struggling for years. Will it be forced into the back seat again?

* Isabel’s roundup…

* 21st Show | COVID-19 emergency orders are coming to an end. Where does Illinois go from here?: To unpack all of it, The 21st was joined by a professor of infectious diseases, the Illinois state epidemiologist, and a journalist that’s been following the story.

* Capitol News Illinois | General Assembly approves criminal sentencing reforms for minors: House Bill 3414 adds to the factors that judges must consider in the process of sentencing children found guilty of a crime. The bill would require a judge to consider a child’s involvement in the child welfare system, whether they have a history of domestic abuse or sexual exploitation and the results of any mental health evaluations the child has gone through. This is in addition to existing factors that judges already consider, such as age, maturity and potential for rehabilitation.

* ABC Chicago | Final victim of I-55 dust storm crash ID’d as Missouri man: Illinois State Police: Illinois State Police publicly identified the final victim of the deadly Interstate 55 dust storm crash. Otto Medina-Salazar, a 58-year-old Missouri man, was killed in the crash.

* Crain’s | Cannabis retailer NuEra plans to buy grower: If approved by state regulators, the deal to purchase Ieso, a marijuana growing operation in Murphysboro, will help NuEra climb the ladder to the big leagues. Cultivation capability is important because only marijuana grown and processed in the state can be sold in stores here. The largest operators — such as Green Thumb Industries, Cresco Labs, Verano Holdings and PharmaCann — have both cultivation and retail capabilities. Such vertical business integration is seen as the key to success in an industry where profits remain scarce.

* Daily-Journal | Pritzker commutes Kankakee man’s sentence: Pritzker reduced the conviction to a “juvenile adjudication,” according to Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe. The man was 17 years old when he was arrested as a suspect in a drive-by shooting in which two people were shot in August 2017 in Kankakee.

* Crain’s | Brandon Johnson poaches the county’s budget director as he names key advisers: Annette Guzman was named budget director. She most recently served in the same role at Cook County, where Johnson has served as a commissioner. Guzman’s time at the county saw the Board of Commissioners approve stable budgets while administering an avalanche of federal pandemic relief funds.

* NYT | Open-Armed Chicago Feels the Strains of a Migrant Influx: As the number of migrants entering Chicago has significantly increased in recent weeks, their presence around the city — in police stations, in park facilities and on neighborhood streets — has become far more visible. More than 100 new migrants are arriving each day now, officials said, compared with about a dozen a day a few months ago.

* Block Club | Lightfoot Signs Environmental Justice Executive Order As Mayor-Elect Johnson Vows To Build On Progress: Lightfoot ordered the city to complete a study of the communities most impacted by industry and pollution by Sept. 1. Advocates say it will help draft legislation to improve residents’ health.

* Tribune | Allison Arwady has been the face of COVID-19 in Chicago. Will Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson keep her on?: Within weeks, schools, offices, restaurants and businesses would all be shut down, and it wouldn’t be much longer before Arwady became a household — or, rather, housebound — name. In news conferences held daily at first, it was Arwady who tried to explain the science and the data behind an ever-changing set of rules and restrictions over masking, testing, vaccine mandates, social distancing and capacity limits.

* Crain’s | After protests delayed opening, Englewood Save-A-Lot now open: After protests prompted a delayed debut, the new Save-A-Lot grocery store in Englewood opened this morning, filling a void left by Whole Foods. The store opened at 8 a.m., and a couple hundred people came to shop in the first two hours, said Joe Canfield, CEO of operator Yellow Banana.

* Tribune | 26-year-old woman charged with felony battery after allegedly attacking 4 on Northwest Side with baseball bat: A 26-year-old woman was charged Thursday with four counts of aggravated battery after she was allegedly caught on video beating a mother with a baseball bat in the Albany Park neighborhood.

* News-Gazette | Hari Minnesota mosque bombing conviction upheld: A federal appeals court has affirmed the conviction and sentence for a former Ford County resident convicted in the firebombing of a Minnesota mosque almost six years ago.

* Sun-Times | City releases new renderings showing ‘evolved’ Bally’s casino design: “Our intention was to really create a Chicago moment,” Cox said of the new designs. “A feeling that would be iconic.”

* NYT | Here’s how the Biden administration has prepared for an expected migrant influx.: The Biden administration’s new rule presumes that those who do not use lawful pathways to enter the United States are ineligible for asylum when they show up at the border. Migrants at the border can rebut this presumption only if they sought asylum or protection in another country through which they traveled en route to the United States and were denied safe haven there, or if they can demonstrate exceptional circumstances, such as a medical emergency.

* Sun-Times | Some 17-year cicadas might show up a year early in Chicago: “It’s not expected to be in very large numbers, these off-year ones,” said Kacie Athey, assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who studies how insects affect agriculture.

* Journal Star | Longtime reality TV series is coming to Illinois in search of antique collections: Have a barn or garage full of “rusty gold?” “American Pickers” is looking for you. The longtime reality series will be filming episodes in Illinois in July. The show is seeking leads on antiques collections and colorful characters throughout the state.